BOZEMAN – Teachers and informal educators can learn to incorporate archaeology into their classrooms and programs through hands-on summer courses with Project Archaeology, which is based at Montana State University.

Participants engage in archaeological activities such as investigating field sites and analyzing artifacts while exploring curriculum materials that cover topics such as math and language literacy, problem solving processes and inquiry. The program has several STEM components (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) and also fulfills many core requirements in Indian Education for All and the Common Core Standards.

“Project Archaeology: Investigating a Plains Tipi” takes place in Bozeman from June 16-19 and repeats July 21-24.

“Project Archaeology: Educator Field School” takes place in the gold rush town of Virginia City from Aug. 4-8 and includes two days of archaeological excavation in nearby Nevada City.

Both courses offer graduate credits from MSU. Participants in the Virginia City course may also choose to enroll in the non-credit option and receive 30 renewal units from the Montana Office of Public Instruction instead of academic credit. All participants receive a full set of curriculum materials. Educators from throughout the United States are encouraged to participate. The field school and curriculum materials are also appropriate for informal educators, such as those based at museums, science schools, as well as after-school programs.